Over the past centuries the conventional game of backgammon has been played by two players playing with 15 stones each. The 15 stones of each player are placed on the game board at certain predetermined starting positions and the players move their stones in opposite directions in a race to remove their respective stones from their inner table first and thereby be the winner. Choutte was developed as a variation of the conventional backgammon game to allow more than two players to play whereby one player plays in opposition to the rest of the players who have a team captain. The players with the team captain can not play individually but must develop a common strategy against the single player.
Recent multiplayer backgammon games include:
1. Thomas et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,058,318 and 4,058,319 discloses game boards which have 48 or more total points with each player having 15 stones to move from prearranged starting positions on the game board.
2. Gilliland in U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,157 discloses a three player game board with 36 total points with each player having 15 stones to move from prearranged starting positions on the game board.
3. Borland in U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,221 discloses a backgammon board game for three players with a game board having 36 total points with each player having 20 stones to move from prearranged starting posiitons on the game board.
4. Barber in U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,787 discloses a four player backgammon game board having a total of 36 points with each player having 15 stones to move from prearranged starting positions on the game board.
5. Tobin et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,739 discloses a game apparatus for use in backgammon games in which the game board has 48 total points and variations of games whereby each player has 6,12, or 15 stones to play from prearranged starting positions on the game board dependent upon which game is played.
6. Rosen in U.S. Des. Pat. No. 265,215 illustrates a four sided square game board having 12 points on each side yielding a total of 48 points on the game board.
7. Lane et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,458 discloses a multiplayer backgammon game board which has a total of 28 points with each player having 10 stones to move from prearranged starting positions.
8. Othon in U.S. Des. Pat. No. 160,525 illustrates a six sided game board having 6 points on each side yielding a total of 36 points on the game board.
9. Sternau in U.S. Des. Pat. No. 85,066 illustrates a three sided game board having a total of 36 points on the game board.
10. Hirtenstein in U.S. Des. Pat. No. 84,477 illustrates a four sided square game board having 12 points on each side yielding a total of 36 points on the game board.